The Kansas City Chiefs and their fans are not new to controversial officiating calls that seem to turn the momentum of a game.
This particular moment involves the health and safety of an individual player.
During the Chiefs’ 27-17 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster had his day end early after Jaguars safety Andre Cisco landed high when coming in contact with him, which caused him to drop the ball and make his body go into a fencing position.
To no one’s surprise, a flag was thrown on the play. But then officials picked it up. The team wasn’t happy.
“We were mad,” safety Justin Reid said, (first transcribed by ProFootballTalk). “I’ve had a lot of big hits and not once have I made helmet-to-helmet contact like that.”
Head coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes were also pissed.
“As long as there is contact to the head, it doesn’t need to be in the game,” Reid told reporters after the final whistle. “It looked like there was contact to the head from where I was standing.”
“Obviously, I don’t think there was any ill intent from the player,” Mahomes noted to the press in his post-game media availability. “He was just trying to knock the ball loose. Obviously, there was some helmet-to-helmet contact. We want to get that out of the league as much as possible for player safety.”
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“I was angry,” wide receiver Kadarius Toney told reporters. “I was kind of mad because I don’t really like dirty plays. I feel like it gave the team a boost; it gave us something to play for, I guess you could say.”
The Chiefs will now have to wait for more tests on JuJu to see how long he may be out before he gets back on the field.
The team will play the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football next week.
